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The Peace-of-Mind Edition Thursday, October 17, 2024

Apple Celebrates 10 Years Of Apple Pay, by Jennifer Bailey, Apple

Looking ahead at what’s next for Apple Pay, we are excited to now bring our users more ways to pay, including the option to redeem rewards and access installment loans from Apple Pay-enabled issuers and lenders right at checkout with Apple Pay online and in-app on iPhone and iPad. This gives consumers greater flexibility in how they pay with the easy and trusted Apple Pay experience they already know and love. It also provides Apple Pay-enabled issuers and lenders with new ways to connect with their customers, and make their rewards and installment offerings even more accessible.

Beyond payments, we’re also advancing our broader vision of replacing users’ physical wallets with an easy, secure, and private digital wallet — Apple Wallet. Today, users can seamlessly and securely add and access eligible event tickets, transit cards, keys, government IDs, and more all from Apple Wallet. And we’re always looking for new ways to make using Apple Wallet convenient while delivering unparalleled security and peace of mind.

Apple Previews New iPhone Features Including Enhanced Caller ID For Businesses And Brand Logos In Mail, by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

Apple today announced an extension of the Apple Business Connect program, which allows companies to submit information about their businesses to Apple to be surfaced in Apple Maps, Siri and increasingly more places across the operating system.

In iOS 18.2, the Mail app will be able to show brand logos next to emails from participating businesses. Next year, the Phone app will be able to identify the incoming call from a business with a logo badge and descriptive name. The enhanced caller ID and branding will help users distinguish legitimate communications from spam and phishing attempts.

Pushing Buttons: With The Safety Of Roblox Under Scrutiny, How Worried Should Parents Be?, by Keza MacDonald, The Guardian

Despite everything presented in this Hindenburg report and others over the past few years, I believe that it is entirely possible for kids to play Roblox safely. It has decent parental controls that limit or eliminate the extent to which strangers can contact your child – when used correctly. If I had a child playing Roblox I would be checking and double-checking all those settings, making sure that the “friends list” function is set to include only real-life friends. I would also be extremely reluctant to let younger children play this game unsupervised, to minimise the chance of kids coming across – or indeed looking for – the many inappropriate games that regularly seem to escape Roblox’s moderation efforts.

Stuff

iPhone Roadside Assistance Via Satellite Feature Now Available In UK, by Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Roadside Assistance via Satellite enables iPhone users to contact breakdown services in areas without cellular or Wi-Fi coverage. UK breakdown rescue service Green Flag has partnered with Apple to provide assistance to stranded motorists via the feature in areas with poor connectivity.

Develop

Reinventing Core Data Development With SwiftData Principles, by Fatbobman's Blog

Disappointingly, a large amount of SwiftData code that ran well on iOS 17 encountered various problems in the new version. For a data persistence framework that shoulders heavy responsibilities, these issues are undoubtedly fatal. What’s more worrying is that the complexity of these problems means they may not be thoroughly resolved in the short term. It is foreseeable that throughout the iOS 18 cycle, developers choosing to use SwiftData will have to continuously grapple with these challenges.

Notes

Apple’s Chief People Officer To Exit After Less Than Two Years, by Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Apple Inc.’s chief people officer is leaving the iPhone maker after less than two years, according to people with knowledge of the matter, marking an unusually short tenure for a senior executive at the company.

Carol Surface, who started at Apple in early 2023 and reports to Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, is departing, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the move hasn’t been announced. Apple employees were notified of the exit on Wednesday, they said.

Apple Secretly Worked With China’s BYD On Long-Range EV Battery, by Gabrielle Coppola and Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. worked with Chinese automaker BYD Co. for years as part of its now-canceled car project, developing long-range batteries that helped lay the groundwork for technology used today, according to people familiar with the situation.

[...]

Spokespeople for Apple and BYD declined to comment on the joint battery work. But BYD said in an emailed statement that “the concept for the Blade battery originated with BYD engineers, who independently developed this LFP Blade battery. BYD holds complete property rights and patent rights for the Blade battery.”

Bottom of the Page

I am so happy that Apple Pay -- and contactless payment -- exists, and that I no longer have to hand over any cards to total strangers anymore.

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Thanks for reading.